Bridal Shower

After a lovely dinner with Rene (though he was Dutch we didn't go dutch treat! yay!), off I went to a somewhat sleazy KTV joint with my officemates. We planned a secret bridal shower for my officemate Me-ann. It was held at one of those places along Quezon Avenue. The bar even had a "fishbowl" where, for 500 pesos a night, you could take your pick of pretty ladies whom you would want to sing the night away with. But since we knew the owner, and they had great food, it was the perfect venue for our little party.

While waiting for our friend Marie to bring Me-ann to us (we lured her out of the office early to meet up with Marie, upon which Marie will take Me-ann to the place), we sang a little videoke in our little private room. I got myself an unstoppable case of "meningococcemia," the latest disease scare to hit the Philippines. I was unstoppable on the mike and the dance floor, dancing like crazy and singing my little out-of-tune heart for all its worth.

We were searching for a male stripper to entertain our bachelorette. We set it upon our gay officemate Eduard to do the task. After last minute negotiations and hassles, we were finally able to secure ourselves one.

After laughing and eating and singing some more, Me-ann finally arrived at around 10 pm, more than pleasantly surprised at the trouble we went for her. Oh, she had no idea.

At around 11, the male stripper walks in. Me-ann wonders who the guy is, but our screaming gave us away. All she could do was shake her head. He was in a sheer white Enrique-Iglesias-like shirt. He seemed young, not more than 20 years old. He wasn't particularly cute or muscular, but eh, okay enough.

And then he decides to gyrate to a series of songs...his shirt comes off.
Then his belt.
All us girls were roughly the same age, and NO ONE was willing to play along with mr macho dancer. Not even the bride-to-be! Of course, who else do they recruit?


Then his pants.
The guy was already in his knickers by the third song. Guy and Eduard were having a little discussion after the third song. I later found out how it went.

Guy: (sensing the discomfort in the air) Huwag ko na kayang ituloy ang all-the-way? (I don't think I should go "Full Monty")
Eduard: Ay naku kailangan! Usapan natin yan, di ba? (YOu have to! it's part of the agreement)

All us girls see was the guy suddenly ducking to the restroom. We were worried that maybe the guy was not game to strip it all off.
The last thing I hear myself say as the first bars of the Bon Jovi song "Bed of Roses" plays in the background is "Huwag na kaya nating ipag-all the..."

OH MAY GAD....
AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

There the guy was, completely nekkid! It was like a car crash, I so wanted to look away, but I couldn't! I was agape (and not because of the size. Thanks to the air conditioning he was shrinking by the minute) and I could not just turn away. the room was completely silent, especially when Ed touched the guy's, uhm, thingie. One of my officemates, Sugar, the self-professed virgin of the group kept screaming.
however....
Sugar: (with her hands over her eyes) Aaay! ano ba yan! Malaki ba? Ano itsura?
Marie: *Rolls her eyes* eh tanong ka nang tanong jan tignan mo na kaya (yanks Sugar's hands from her face)
Sugar: AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! *AND SLAMS HER EYES SHUT!* ayoko makita! ayoko!

So after the dance, we fed the poor boy. THe girls were a little too jarred by what happened, and didn't go anywhere near him. Only Eduard mustered the guts to talk to the guy. Hey, the guy was human too, you know? So I struck up conversation.

He told us his name was Albert, but told me his real name was Rupert (ah...ok)
That he was from Aklan, in Manila for a couple of months now.
And strips to his skivvies "as a hobby" (ohkaaaaay)
He said that he is a real-estate broker by day. (sure.)
and a bunch of other crap. He struck me as a country boy lured by the bright lights of the big city, seeking fortune and fame the fastest posible way.

He asked for my number. I didn't want to give it to him. What if this guy gets arrested? What if they check his cellphone and mistake me as a "client?" Oh gosh. He asked from what office we were from, but I merely said that we were officemates from Makati.
But I knew guys like him had chips on their shoulders. I didn't want him to think that I looked down on him because of his job. So I gave in. Turns out he asked Ed's number too. I complemented his nice bracelet. He gave it to me. I didn't want to accept it, but he insisted ( where it went off to the dumpster after he left).

He sent me and Eduard a couple of text messages the next couple of days.